Kane’s HUD shifted slightly, prioritizing his newly acquired fighting skills which were arranged on the bottom left of the display next to a red sphere which he knew represented his health. He’d seen the display a thousand times on life feeds and recorded episodes of the Great Hunt, but there was something about living that reality that made him both exited and terrified at the same moment.

  The Striker roared, slamming the side of its sword against his chitinous fist and lumbering forward, staring at Gideon with its eyeless head. Gideon triggered his Marked for Death ability and a small white skull symbol appeared above the Stalker’s head. Even though the others weren’t here, he’d be crazy not to use the additional 15% crit chance and 20% critical damage bonus associated with the ability.

  The problem was, he only now remembered that it had a fifteen-second timer, so he’d need to make his move quickly if he was going to take advantage of the buffs. That, it turned out, wasn’t going to be an issue because the Striker had finished talking and was now charging toward him with a blade long enough to split Gideon’s body in half from tip to taint.

  The Stalker pulped its fallen comrade, huge feet squashing the corpse as it lunged at Gideon. The blade came whistling down toward Gideon’s head, forcing him to roll aside and scramble to get out of reach as the blade clanged into the floor.

  No sooner had Gideon gotten to his feet again than the blade swung in a devastating horizontal arc toward his torso, forcing him to jump into the air to avoid being bisected by the blow. As he landed unsteadily, Gideon ran to his left, trying to put some distance between himself and the brute.

  He quickly realized that his primary skills were useless at range and he’d have to get inside the enemy’s attacks if he wanted to do any damage. That would mean risking decapitation and even if he managed to get inside the reach of that mammoth blade, the Stalker would likely pummel him into mush with that balled up, oversized fist.

  He needed to get in behind the brute, but none of his abilities included an in-built stealth ability. The Stealth Strike would do increased damage if he wasn’t detected by an enemy, but it did nothing to hide him from a foe in a situation like this where they were fighting in the open one on one.

  Gideon could try to throw the knife, of course, but that would likely end about as well as it did when Mia tried it. The brute was too heavily armored and, even though Gideon could see weak points in the armor at the knees, and neck, there was no way to get close enough to strike at those areas.

  The Stalker roared, charging toward Gideon once again. The only limitation the creature had, as far as he could see, was that it was reasonably slow in moving from place to place. That gave him at least one small advantage.

  He dove to one side as the Stalker swung its blade towards his head, then instead of backing away, moved toward the enemy, thinking to get behind the beast. Knife still clutched in his right hand, Gideon drove himself forward on the floor, slashing out with the blade and aiming for the joint he could see in the soldier’s leg armor.

  The knife scored a light scratch against the armor, missing the gap entirely as the Striker bent down and swung its fist around to crack into Gideon’s body. As he slid across the floor, Gideon reflected at the sound of cracking bone he’d heard at the moment of impact.

  A moment later, pain swelled in his chest and he was suddenly unable to breath. It felt like he’d been hit by a wrecking ball but there was no time to consider his injuries, let alone recover, because the Stalker had already spun around and was stomping toward him, intent on finishing the job.

  Racked with pain, Gideon felt something enter his body as an announcement appeared on his HUD.

  INVENTORY ACTIVATED

  ITEMS LOOTED

  Ether + 10

  Stalker talons + 2

  The moment the announcement ran across his HUD he felt a surge of vitality enter his body. The broken bones in his chest seemed to have instantaneously healed and he could breathe normally. More than that, he felt suddenly energized as though he’d just been given a shot of adrenaline.

  5 Ether used for emergency healing.

  He got to his feet, moving out of the way as the Stalker brought its sword down once more, splitting apart the metal floor plating where Gideon had been moments earlier. As he ran to the opposite side of the chamber, Gideon realized that he’d been shoved past the dead alien soldier when the Stalker had punched him and that’s why his inventory had been activated.

  The auto-heal function was a built-in capacity in his echo body, one that he was familiar with from thousands of hours watching the Great Hunt. He couldn’t remember the exact figures, but echoes were designed to expend a certain portion of harvested ether to heal themselves in the event of a mortal wound or a potentially life-ending situation.

  It wouldn’t happen all the time but it had at least given him a much needed shot in the arm in this fight. Now that he’d actually harvested some ether, another idea also occurred.

  He mentally clicked on the Stealth Strike icon, asking what ether infusion options were available by simply thinking of the purple ether while looking at the ability symbol. A new ability augment showed up and he read quickly, conscious that the Stalker would be on him again in a moment.

  ** SHADOW STEP **

  Moves the attacker instantly through space to arrive behind their target and within striking distance of a vulnerable spot if one exists.

  Stealth Strike will then be triggered with an additional 10% damage applied, scaling up to 200% additional damage depending on how much ether is applied.

  Minimal Ether Cost: 5

  Cooldown: 60 seconds

  Gideon ignored most of the details, focusing on the first few words and slotting the new ability into place on his hotbar. He waited for the Stalker to get in close, breathing evenly and attempting to calm himself as he prepared to trigger the spell.

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  He only had five ether and there was no way to get more other than killing the Stalker he was facing. That meant that this was his one shot to execute the move and do as much damage as possible. One shot and he’d never practiced the ability and had just about the smallest knife imaginable to make the attempt.

  The Stalker approached but Gideon suddenly remembered something. He backed away, running out of reach of the brute’s sword to the opposite side of the chamber.

  The enemy soldier spat, hissing more of its guttural language as it spun around and lumbered toward him once more. If it had been angry before, now it looked well and truly pissed off.

  Trying desperately to remember how he’d see in work on the feeds, Gideon called up his inventory and mentally selected one of the Stalker talons he’d picked up. Instantly, the small throwing knife in his right hand was swapped out with a long, curved talon made from the same chitinous substance that covered the Stalker’s body.

  Instead of three inches of metal, he now had a little over a foot of curved blade in his right hand. He had to believe that it was at least as strong as the armor the Stalker was wearing and the extra nine inches or so should make a huge difference.

  Time seemed to slow down to a crawl as the Stalker thudded forward, thrusting his blade, rather than swinging it. Gideon waited until the tip of the sword was only a few inches from his chest and then triggered the Shadow Step ability.

  His vision blurred for a moment and suddenly he was behind the brute, staring up at its armored back. A series of small red arrows pointed to a section of armor plating with a thin gap at their base. Without thinking, Gideon drove the talon into the gap, throwing everything he had into the thrust.

  The talon and Gideon’s arm were surrounded by swirling shadow as the blade was driven up into the gap in the Stalker’s armor. Blood gushed from the wound and the creature roared in pain, spinning around and ripping the talon out of Gideon’s hands as he tumbled backwards, crab walking out of range of the Stalker’s swinging sword.

  The blade sliced through the air, cutting a deep gash into Gideon’s thigh as he fell backwards. A spray of bright crimson blood splashed across the floor, and he felt fire burning through his leg as the Striker brought its bladed arm down again and again. The blade slammed into the metal flooring, throwing up sparks as Gideon rolled and dodged, keeping just out of reach of the mammoth sword.

  Boots slipping on the bloody floor, he managed to scrambled out of reach of the weapon as the Stalker reached behind its back, attempting to dislodge the talon which was still jutting from its lower torso.

  Gideon used the time to grab the second talon from his inventory. It popped into existence in his right hand, curving in the opposite direction to its twin but looking just as lethal.

  He tried to stand, but the best he could manage was to push his back against the wall and move into an awkward hopping stance. Blood was still pouring from the wound on his leg, flowing in troubling volume from the gash as he focused on the Stalker limping towards him.

  The enemy walked a little slower, but aside from a slight limp it had acquired after Gideon’s strike, it seemed otherwise unharmed. Worse still, the Shadow Step ability hadn’t recharged and, in his current state, Gideon wasn’t going to be able to dodge out of the way of the Striker’s attack.

  He'd need to try and lunge at the alien, hoping to get in close enough to use the talon and try to find a gap in its armor. With luck, he might be able to buy enough time for the Shadow Step ability to recharge, if he didn’t bleed out in the meantime.

  One thing was sure. Running was no longer an option.

  He triggered Marked for Death once again and the floating skull symbol appeared above the Stalker as it drew back its sword and prepared to deliver the death blow.

  “Here goes nothing,” Gideon muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth and pushing himself toward the enemy.

  Instead of the blade, it was the Stalker’s closed fist that met Gideon as he lunged forward. The club-like fist knocked Gideon aside, crashing into his right shoulder with such force that his arm broke and the talon blade tumbled out of his hand and clattered onto the floor.

  Gideon rolled over and over, coming to a rest as his head bashed against the wall. The Stalker turned and pointed the tip of its sword at his throat, something approaching a smile spreading across the alien’s toothy mouth.

  This is it, thought Gideon, bracing himself for the end.

  The Stalker pulled back its arm and thrust the blade forward, just as a burst of gunfire from nearby split the air and a flurry of bullets ricocheted off the Stalker’s armor. The distraction was enough to push the blade strike wide, giving Gideon enough space to twist out of the way as the sword was jammed into the wall, locking the Stalker’s arm in place.

  Desperate, Gideon summoned the small throwing knife from his inventory, gripping the weapon in his off hand and driving it up into the space beneath the creature’s head. He triggered his Thrust ability, driving the blade home as the Stalker battered him aside with its bludgeoning fist and sent him falling to the floor in a heap.

  Gunfire continued to echo through the chamber as Red and Mia came into view, the latter firing in tight bursts at the enemy while Red struggled with a weapon that looked a little like a grenade launcher. The weapon clicked into place and Red grinned from ear to ear.

  “Fire in the hole!” he shouted, raising the weapon as Gideon scrambled to get as far away as possible.

  There was a deep thump sound and then, a moment later, the room exploded in fire and light. Shards of splintered chitin peppered Gideon, along with pieces of twisted metal and debris while the floor shuddered. Gideon coughed, covering his mouth with his left hand, while his entire right side throbbed with agony, pieces of shrapnel sticking out from his torn shirt like the spikes of a porcupine.

  As the air began to clear, he saw the Stalker kneeling on one knee, its sword arm torn off, blood leaking from the jagged wound at its shoulder as well as the dagger strikes in its back and throat. It wasn’t dead yet and the way it hissed suggested that it wasn’t finishing attempting to kill Gideon either.

  For the moment though, its attention was squarely focused on Red as he pointed the grenade launcher at the brute again. Gideon couldn’t speak. He could barely breath, but he tried to communicate with Red anyway, begging him not to fire the weapon again.

  It was a miracle the blast hadn’t torn the chamber apart and exposed them all to the lethal vacuum of space. One more explosion might just do the trick.

  Ears ringing, head throbbing, and his body feeling like he’d just been pushed through a meat grinder, Gideon reached for the discarded talon laying on the floor a few feet away. He grabbed the weapon with his left hand, pushed himself up using his good leg, and half fell, half dove toward the Striker while its attention was still on Red.

  He triggered Shadow Step, noting that Marked for Death was still active as his body shifted through space and appeared behind the Striker. This time his targeting arrows pointed to a small gab between the enemy’s helmet and its body armor.

  Gideon used the last of his strength to drive the weapon home, sliding it into the tiny gap and screaming in rage as he shoved the blade up and into the creature’s head. Unable to hold onto the talon, his momentum continued, and he fell across the Striker’s body and onto the floor nearby.

  Blinking away sweat and blood, Gideon watched as the hulking alien turned its eyeless head toward him, mouth open, blood and spittle bubbling in the gruesome maw. For a moment the two stared at each other before the Stalker fell limp and dropped to a heap on the floor.

  Through the ringing in his ears and the throbbing of his head, Gideon thought he could hear Red screaming in triumph. The words that’s what you get featured in a string of taunts he offered the dead Stalker.

  Gideon rolled onto his back as warning messages began showing up on his HUD.

  ** WARNING **

  Critical damage taken! No available ether to restore health! Seek healing immediately!

  A face appeared in front of Gideon. For a brief moment he was a little confused, before recognition dawned. Mia was saying something to him, rubbing her hands together and holding something he couldn’t quite make out. He couldn’t hear her words either, just the ringing from the grenade explosion.

  The urge to close his eyes was overwhelming and the pain he’d been feeling a moment earlier was completely gone. In its place was a strange numbness, coupled with a pleasing warmth in the back of his head.

  Mia said something again, her expression urgent. Gideon tried to smile, tried to speak. His body wasn’t responding to those commands, but then again this wasn’t his body anyway, was it? This was an echo.

  He’d finally won the lottery and escaped his shitty, burger-flipping life. For a few hours at least.

  Still, it was better than…